Kerr-McGee profit more than doubles

LisaSanders

DALLAS (CBS.MW) -- Oil and gas producer Kerr-McGee Corp. said Wednesday that higher oil and gas prices and volumes led to a fourth quarter profit more than double that earned a year ago.

The Oklahoma City-based company
KMG, -2.83%
said fourth-quarter net income was $133.8 million, or 86 cents a share, compared with net income of $50.3 million, or 50 cents a share, a year ago.

In the fourth quarter, Kerr-McGee produced a daily record of 372,100 oil-equivalent barrels, an improvement of 41 percent from the year-ago period. Production for the year averaged 312,200 oil-equivalent barrels, an increase of 15 percent from the fourth quarter of 2003.

For the year, the company replaced 280 percent of production. Kerr-McGee also said it sees production volumes increasing by 13 percent to 18 percent in 2005.

The average sales price Kerr-McGee received per barrel of oil, including the effects of hedging, was $28.99, up from $25.86 a barrel in the year-earlier period. Natural-gas sales prices averaged $5.25 per thousand cubic feet, an improvement of 24 percent from the fourth quarter of 2003. See archived story.

Excluding special items, Kerr-McGee would have earned $1.07 a share. Analysts polled by Thomson First Call expected the company to earn 98 cents a share, on average.

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